Huffington: Ups and Downs of Chess Champions

12/9/2015 – World Champion Magnus Carlsen, 24, has been slipping a bit lately, but
still sits at the top of the rating list – alone against three forty-plus
players. The conflict of the generations is a never-ending topic that dominates
one of the most important novels of the 19th century, Fathers and Sons,
by prominent Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. GM Lubomir Kavalek explains.

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The Ups and Downs of Chess Champions

By GM Lubomir Kavalek

In the ratings war, the world chess champion Magnus Carlsen, 24, and the top Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian, 33, looked like brothers in arms, occupying the first two places for some years. A world championship match between the two could be a treat. But this year they both hit the wall. Carlsen has lost 42 points since June and has a rating of 2834. He is still first in the world, 31 points ahead of the Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov, 40, but the margin is getting smaller.

Aronian slipped from the FIDE Top 10 and was in danger of not making it to the Candidates tournament on rating. He was rescued by Samvel Karapetyan, an Armenian billionaire living in Russia who decided to sponsor the event. Aronian got the wild card, making the title match a possibility.

With the results from the 20th European Team Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland, Aronian climbed back to 6th place. He helped Armenia finish second behind Russia and his game with Carlsen was a fine performance.

Two former world champions, Vishy Anand, 45, and Vladimir Kramnik, 40, share third place on the rating list. By playing the last title match against Carlsen, Anand secured his place in the Candidates to be staged next March in Moscow. Kramnik hoped to qualify via the World Cup last month, but came up short. He improved his rating while leading his Russian club Siberia to victory in the European Club championship. Although Kramnik is now rated high enough, FIDE nominates a player with the best average rating in 2015, and that place would go to Anish Giri.

Still, it is an encouraging sign to see older players be reluctant to age, finding the motivation to stay around. At the top of the rating list, the young Carlsen is alone against three forty-plus players. The conflict of the generations is a never-ending topic, often discussed in literature.

It dominates one of the most important novels of the 19th century, Fathers and Sons, written by a prominent Russian writer and amateur chess player Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883).

It made him famous, but broke his spirit at the same time. Disappointed by the reaction to his book in Russia, Turgenev lived the rest of his life abroad. His favorite places were Paris and Baden-Baden, where he also sponsored some chess events.

Turgenev was considered a strong player. "His play was austere, no brilliant moves, he used to choose the line that seemed soundest to him," characterized him La Strategie in 1883. Not many of his games are found in print. The following game from the match against Ignaz Kolisch was played in 1862, the year Fathers and Sons were published.

The winner of the game was Ignaz Kolisch – a chess player, globetrotter, banker, publisher and chess patron. He was born in 1837 in Pressburg, now the Slovak capital of Bratislava, and was a contemporary of Paul Morphy and William Steinitz. Kolisch was considered to be one of the best chess players in the world, perhaps even the best in the early 1860s. Twice he challenged Paul Morphy to a match, twice he was refused. Yet, he is not often recognized in chess literature. Richard Reti, another world-class player born on the Slovak territory, does not mentioned him in his works, neither does Garry Kasparov in My Great Predecessors. Fabrizio Zavatarelli filled this void with a 376-page book published by McFarland & Company.

Through good connections and sound investments, Kolisch turned his chess winnings into considerable wealth and in the 1880s acquired the title of baron. "He is witty, agreeable, well-mannered and good tempered," one player described him. Zavatarelli presents Kolisch's 323 games, about half not previously published. He also creates vivid pictures of the chess scene in the second half of 19th century. A remarkable work.

The book is one of the amazing chess biographies published by McFarland this year. After a wonderful anthology Eminent Victorian Ches Players, Ten Biographies, Tim Harding brought the most colorful player to life in Joseph Henry Blackburne, A Chess Biography. The comprehensive nearly 600-page work is a beautiful tribute to a world-class player, considered among the best five in the world. Blackburne (1841- 1924) devoted over 60 years to the game and the book presents 1184 games and 55 compositions. It is Harding at his best!

Miguel A. Sanchez's José Raúl Capablanca, A Chess Biography is a nice compliment to Edward Winter's classic. The author performed substantial research in New York and in his native Cuba, creating a larger picture of the Cuban world champion. The 586-page book would be a nice addition to any chess library.

Stephen Davies wrote Samuel Lipschütz, A Life in Chess, a 488-page book about the American champion, born in Eastern Europe. He was a fixture of the Manhattan Chess Club and Davies presents over 250 lightly commented games. It is a great discovery of an entertaining player.

Everyman Chess presents many great players in the Move by Move series. The latest book is Craig Pritchett's Steinitz. The author chronicles the life of the first official world champion in chronological order and deeply comments 35 games. Included are Steinitz's positional principles as well as other general tips on how to improve the game.

It is not a biography, but Antonio Gude's A Complete Chess Course, published by Gambit Publications, is a useful tool in answering many basic questions about the game. It teaches how to play and win in openings and endgames, and discusses tactics and strategy. One of the best beginner resources on the market!

The Huffington Post is an American news website and aggregated blog founded by Arianna Huffington and others, featuring various news sources and columnists. The site was launched on May 9, 2005, as a commentary outlet and liberal/progressive alternative to conservative news websites. It offers coverage of politics, media, business, entertainment, living, style, the green movement, world news, and comedy. It is a top destination for news, blogs, and original content. The Huffington Post has an active community, with over over a quarter of a billion visits per month (according to Quantcast), making it the number 73 ranked web site in the world (Alexa, January 2014).

See also

12/20/2016 – His graduation from National Master and International Master to full GM took just seven months and happened 51 years ago. “A grandmaster title is like a driver’s license,” an experienced colleague told him. “You don’t yet know how to drive well, you learn on the go.” In his Huffington Post column Lubos Kavalek looks at memorable players – Flohr, Spassky, Petrosian, Fischer – and games from that time. His article is historically and didactically interesting.

See also

10/19/2016 – In his very substantial column GM Lubomir Kavalek compares World Champion Misha Tal (1936-1992) to saxophonist Charlie Parker, "both flying high with no barriers, no limits to their intuition, imagination and improvisation." In a review of October games Kavalek shares his thought on a study-like fininsh by Anand in the Tal Memorial, and compares it with masterpieces by Bent Larsen and Henry Bird. It is historically and didactically interesting.

Video

Former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik liked to play the French and once described it as a 'difficult and dangerous opening'. But in this 60 minutes video IM Andrew Martin suggests an aggressive and little-used idea of the renowned attacking player GM Viktor Kupreichik to counter the French: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Be3!?. Andrew Martin uses the games of Kupreichik to show why this line could catch many French aficionados unprepared and is very dangerous for Black. Attacking players will love this line and the unusual complications that it promotes.

Discuss

What kind of nations like to "steal" people? This sort of generalization is the one which is not based on any facts but based on sick mind.

lajosarpad 12/11/2015 02:48

@wlk1977, it is uncivilized to tell about any nation that it likes to "steal" people.

wlk1977 12/9/2015 07:41

Reti was not Hungarian chess player, neither Czech (which curiously does not matter them to proclaim him the best Czech player of 20th century.....). He was born in Pezinok, his parents were both Jews and father was from Hlohovec mother was born in Pezinok. His mother language was German. He can be equaly called Slovak or Austrian, surely Jew, but not in any case Hungarian or Czech. Some nations like to steal succesfull people from others and usurp their merits. Btw. the very same case with Wolfgang von Kempelen.

lajosarpad 12/9/2015 05:15

Small correction: In the 19th century it was not Slovak territory. It was the Habsburg's province and then part of the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Prior that, it was part of Hungary, called Felvidék, which meant Upper Territory, referring to the fact that it was the northern part of Hungary. After the treaty of Trianon, the territory was given to Czehoslovakia, which was taken back by Hungary for a few years and after WWII it was Czehoslovakia again. It is part of Slovakia since 1994, when the Czehs and the Slovaks divided their territories. Kolisch Ignác was a baron of Jewish descent. Réti was a Hungarian chess player, his name of Réti means "Of Field".